Adversity guides India's comeback through Dhawan, Karthik, Jadeja

Shikhar Dhawan almost gave up cricket when he wasn’t being picked to play for India. Dinesh Karthik, a wicketkeeper by trade, had to find another level as a batsman because a certain MS Dhoni happens to be entrenched behind the stumps. Ravindra Jadeja, still only 24, has already had more comebacks than most players go through in a career. Dhawan has now scored three consecutive international hundreds, two in two matches in the Champions Trophy. Jadeja has proved his value with bat, ball and in the field in India’s first two games against South Africa and West Indies. Karthik has knocked on the door for selection all season, and his two centuries in the warm-up games made him impossible to ignore. He rewarded that faith with an unbeaten 51 as India chased down the West Indies at the Oval [caption id=“attachment_871951” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India is benefiting from the hard work Dinesh Karthik and Shikhar Dhawan have put in behind the scenes. AP[/caption] The Sachin Tendulkars and Brian Laras are the exceptions in world cricket. Most players have to face some adversity over the course of their careers. Australia dropped Steve Waugh from the Test team for 18 months. He averaged 56.60 after his return (in 121 Tests), after averaging just 37.14 in his first 47. VVS Laxman started out as an opener, lost his place, then came back as a match-winning middle-order stylist. Seth Godin, an American entreprenuer, has a theory, and a book, called the Dip. Essentially, the Dip is the rough stretch where things get hard and progress is slow. It could be studing 8 hours a day to prepare for CA exams or spending 8 hours a day in the nets. The results are not immediate but there is a payoff you can see down the road. The trick, according to Godin, is to focus your efforts on those Dips that “will make you the best in the world”. The book also advices readers to quit what Godin calls a ‘Cul-de-sac”, or a dead end. It is, of course, up to the individual to figure out which are the Dips to fight through and which are the Cul-de-sacs to avoid. Dhawan and Karthik in particular had to decide whether their India cap was worth fighting for. Dhawan faced Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at the top of the order. Karthik had the larger-than-life Dhoni blocking his path. Yet both decided it was worth the pain. Dhawan worked on the mental side of his game, tightening his stroke play and his approach to batting. Karthik had to iron out a few technical flaws so he could be more consistent and picked purely as a batsman. India is now reaping the rewards. Both men understand how hard they worked to get here so they are playing with a fearlessness that has this young India side lapping the competition like finely-tuned race car pitted against a Fiat taxi. Jadeja’s story is a bit different. He was fast-tracked into the side as a T20 specialist. Dhoni then gave him a long rope in the hope that Jadeja would become the genuine allrounder India wanted for the World Cup. But he didn’t deliver and was forced back to domestic cricket. He had off the field issues too, and was banned from playing in the IPL after trying to renegotiate his contract in violation of league rules. His return, as a Test quality spinner, at least in Indian conditions, was something nobody expected, probably not even him. Aware of the pain that comes with losing his place, Jadeja has kept his head down this time and concentrated on the ABCs of playing cricket. He talks only of bowling the ball in the right areas and letting the pitch do the work. Even Dhoni said he is still learning what Jadeja is capable of with each passing game. Again, India are reaping the rewards as Jadeja has given them a genuine fifth bowler and someone who can score quick runs down the order, as he did against South Africa. Adversity can make or break a person. In the case of these three players, it has not only made them, but it has made India the most watchable and most exciting of the teams in the Champions Trophy so far. Sure, there are still some kinks to work out. India failed to bowl the West Indies out and there was the batting wobble against South Africa, but these are minor complaints. In a sense, the success of the three are having after battling back is a parallel of India’s journey as a team since winning the World Cup. There were the 0-4 Test drubbings in England and Australia. There was the 2-1 Test loss to England at home. There were calls for Dhoni’s head and questions about how India were managing the transition from the era of Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. The team has since rebounded by beating Australia 4-0 just before the IPL and has surprised with their dominating first two performances in the Champions Trophy. When India takes on Pakistan at Edgbaston tomorrow, the two teams will present contrasting fortunes. One is a young team surpassing expectations. The other is a team in complete disarray that is being crucified from all quarters. It was as recently as January that Pakistan beat India in India 2-1 in an ODI series. That the tables appear to have turned so drastically is, at least in part, down to the attitude of India’s not quite new recruits.